Since Shadow War is coming I decided to write about all the players involved in this upcoming crossover. Today's topic is Slade Wilson and Damian Wayne, their history is somewhat underwhelming but fascinating at the same time. Let's get started.
Batman and Robin: Batman Vs Robin
Back when Dick Grayson was Batman and Damian was his Robin, Slade would be almost a regular adversary for Dick. Slade had his Titans group at the time and Dick went after him here and there. In the main Batman and Robin book Slade tried to attack Dick by taking control over Damian's body, with Talia's help, he fights Dick for a little bit. I guess you could say that the first Slade had anything significant with Damian being him controlling Damian is clever and foreshadows how Damian's hate towards Slade controls him. But I have issues with it. The way Slade is written here is just pathetic as hell, the way he talks, how he acts. He feels like a villain from an old TV show. This is not Deathstroke at all and is one of the reasons the character is a joke for some readers. It's jarring when you read the character from other comics from the same period. Also, I dont like how this arc is called Batman vs Robin but it's just mind controlled Robin attacking Dick for a few pages. Feels like false advertising in a way.
Robin: Son of Batman: Year of Blood
This time Slade is after Nobody(Maya Ducard) and of course he ends up crossing paths with Damian. They have a real one on one fight and they appear to be tied in skill level but Damian uses the environment to his advantage. He ends up paying Slade to leave Maya alone. And again, Slade is very poorly written. He talks like one of those mustache twirling villains from a bad movie. He does have one or two good lines but for the most part he's out of character. And I have issues with this comic art's when it comes to the fighting. The progression from panel to panel makes little sense. Things disappear or appear from thin air and the geography from the location the fight takes place feels random.
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| I do really love the middle section from this double page spread but the transition there is horrible |
During this storyline, Slade kidnaps Damian and has to endure him for a few yours. Now this, this is good. This marks the moment where something with actual character significance happened between the two. Damian has zero respect for Slade and makes fun of him at every moment he can. Slade however feels pity for the boy, due to how he was raised. And there is some clever foreshadowing, for real this time, for something there is yet to come...
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| Man, I love Damian |
Titans: The Lazarus Contract
Slade steals Kid Flash's powers and tries going back in time to save Grant Wilson from dying, as you can imagine the Titans and the Teen Titans are not going to let this happen since changing the timeline is dangerous. I like this crossover a lot, since during that time we had the Titans, led by Dick Grayson with some older Titans, and the Teen Titans, led by Damian and younger Titans. Great times. The way Slade is written here is pretty great, feeling really guilty over how he ruined his kids lives over and over. This storyline is somewhat of a tribute to Wolfman's and Pérez Teen Titans too.
Deathstroke Vs Batman
A DNA test is found saying that Slade is Damian true father. And that's great for conflit. I'm sorry Damian fans. I don't want Slade as Damian's father but this works. The Professional foreshadows this very well too. About the DNA test, its fake, Talia did it in the hopes of calling Slade's attention. Some people complain about this, saying that Batman would never care about a DNA test with this information since he did his on DNA test with Damian. The thing is, we never saw it.
They, genuinely, for a big chunk of time, left this open. Damian could be or not be Bruce's kid. The first time we would see some level of confirmation was during Batman and Robin, when Bruce was dead. And the way they give this information is not 100% reliable, being from one of Bruce's clones.
Anyway, during this storyline we get character studies for Batman and Deathstroke, as how the two behave as father figures. For an entire issue, Damian teams up with Slade and we see how the two work together. And is insanely good. Slade feels bad for Damian and he truly wants for the boy to be better, better then himself and Batman. By this point, the two have such great interactions and history together.
They have a small fight and Slade one shots Damian, not killing him of course. Damian hates Slade, he has zero compassion for the assassin. I used to think that this hate comes from a place of fear, fear of becoming like Slade, Deathstroke is everything Damian fights every day to not be after all. But as we're going to see, that's not it.
Teen Titans: The Terminus Agenda
Here, it's revealed to the reader that Damian hates Slade due to how Talia treated him as he grew up. Even tho I have some issues with this crossover, every single interaction between Slade and Damian works so well here.
By this point, Deathstroke could easily be considered one of Damian's biggest antagonists. Here we have a natural evolution and some sort of conclusion for the two.
Teen Titans: I Was Robin
Damian goes off the rails and Batman goes to confront him, Slade shows up, being hired by Black Mask to destroy the Teen Titans. This issue is very simple, still, it provides some great moments with Batman and Damian. But nothing said here is new when it comes to Damian and Slade. Slade beats Damian in a one on one fight, after that with his group help, he gets the upper hand on Slade and we see Damian with Deathstroke's sword. I have to say, i do love how he looks with it.
In Conclusion
So far as i know, that has been it for the two. We will see more during the upcoming Shadow War event and i'm looking forward to it. I've grown to really love what Damian and Slade have going on, the two just work so well against one another I don't even have words to describe it(or maybe i do but already used them all). That's it for today, have a good one.
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